… But much of the buzz from fans is focused on the pay-per-tailgate plan on the Quad. This fall, about 20 percent of the space allotted for tailgating on the Quad will be reserved, something Hallman said is similar to the concept UA adopted for RVs in 2007.

Oh, goody.

… As for the Quad, Hallman said his company is working incrementally, waiting to gauge the fan response. So far, it’s been positive, he said. On Thursday, 92 out of 115 spots were sold, and he expected the balance to sell out this week.

‘This is just an experiment to see how it goes, and if we get a favorable response, like we have, then we’ll evaluate what the future may be for the Quad,’ he said.

In 2007, 22 reserved spaces lined the grass between Denny Chimes and Gorgas Library. This season, 115 spots will be staked out by Hallman’s company. Of those, 67 will be in the southeast corner, 26 in the open grass area on the western side and there will be 22 in the same area as they were in 2007.

‘These reserved spots are in spots that have traditional filled up last on the Quad, so we are not trying to disrupt people who have had spots for years on the Quad,’ Hallman said.

The cost for each space is $729 and comes with a tent, electricity and a parking spot near the engineering buildings.

Trust me, when all is said and done, these guys will meter and charge for every aspect of football Saturdays that brings the average fan pleasure. If they can ever figure out a way to make you pay a fee for the air you breathe, they’ll do that, too.

Don’t think this experiment won’t be very carefully observed in Athens, Georgia, either.

With your assistance, I’m interested in attempting a modest experiment this college football season at Get The Picture.

Like many, I’ve bitched about certain flaws I see in the polling process which I feel adversely affect the polls’ credibility and accuracy. In particular, I think that preseason polls distort the merits of the teams’ rankings and that there is a clear element of bias in the coaches’ poll that undermines its authority.

So I thought I’d take a shot at seeing if there’s a better way to skin the cat by running a poll here that varies from the norm in two pertinent ways:

The goal is to see if there’s a way to produce a less biased and more accurate measure of evaluating the best teams in D-1 football than what we’ve currently got. (Besides that, accounting for voters’ bias looks like hard work, and I’m basically a lazy sod.)

Anyway, to find out if this has any traction, I’m inviting you readers and other denizens of the college football blogosphere to participate.

Generally speaking, here’s how it would go: every Sunday and Monday, starting after the games of Week 6 of the season have been played, poll voters would turn in their ballots listing – but not ranking – the twelve best teams in D-1. On that same list, voters will also designate their top five teams out of those twelve. The weekly poll results will be determined by approval voting. (The top five votes will only be used in the event there’s a tie between any of the teams that are in the top five after the initial voting is tallied.)

The voting will run through the regular season and there will be a final poll after the bowl games are concluded.

For this to work, I think I’ll need at least a couple dozen participants. So I’m asking for volunteers. Keep in mind that if you decide you want to be in, that’s a commitment I’m asking you to make for the rest of the season. Don’t do this if your interest will lag as the year wears on, although remember that you’re not being asked to rank twenty five teams in order week after week. The votes you’ll be casting should be generated with considerably less effort. After all, if you’re enamored enough with college football to be a regular reader of a blog like this, you should be able to rattle off the twelve best teams in the country in your sleep, right?

If you want to give this a shot, just say so in the comments section to this post. If the numbers are there, we’ll give it a try. And don’t be afraid to toss out any suggestions for this that you think might be useful, either.

For what it’s worth, if this actually gets off the ground, I’ve got a name in mind for the poll. It’ll be a tribute to the coach who cast the single most biased vote in the final regular season coaches’ poll of 2007.

In honor of his first place vote for Hawai’i, here’s to you, Hal Mumme.

Over at Statistically Speaking, Matt’s got his 2008 predictions up for the SEC. If you’re a Georgia fan, you won’t like it. (If you’re a Tennessee fan, you really won’t like it.)

Needless to say, I’m not in agreement with all of that. Nevertheless, what I like about Matt’s posts is that he always finds a few statistical points of interest. He doesn’t disappoint in that department here. Take for example these bits:

In terms of yards allowed, Tennessee’s best defensive showing in the conference came against Georgia. The Vols held the Dawgs to just 243 yards of offense. What’s especially appalling about that stat is that the UT defense gave up over 500 yards in four conference games last season.

Brandon Cox’s passer rating in the 29 games Auburn won when he started was 142.90. In the nine losses he started, his passer rating was 93.82.

Mississippi returns its top 14 tacklers from last season.

Georgia was the only SEC East team to allow fewer yards on defense last season than Vanderbilt.

Take a minute to give the whole thing a read.

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UPDATE: On a related front, even the SEC coaches are buying into the “improving Florida defense” meme. They just named three-quarters of the Florida defensive backfield preseason third team all-conference.

Rivals.com has an interesting article up about how the 2005 recruiting class has fared so far. The results to date are somewhat less than impressive, unless you’re a fan of bad news:

• DE Melvin Alaeze, the fourth-ranked player in the class, currently is in prison for eight years after pleading guilty to a first-degree assault charge.

• WR Fred Rouse, the sixth-ranked player in the class, was kicked off the team at Florida State and later left UTEP. There have been reports that he will try to play for hometown Florida A&M, a Division I-AA program, this fall; other reports have him headed to Division I-AA Jacksonville State.

• RB Jason Gwaltney, the 15th-ranked player in the class, was a backup at West Virginia in 2005 before leaving. He reportedly is enrolled in a junior college in his home state of New York and may try to walk-on at WVU this fall.

• QB Ryan Perrilloux, the 16th-ranked player in the class, was kicked off the team at LSU after repeated rules violations and has enrolled at Jacksonville State.

• LB Tray Blackmon, the 17th-ranked player in the class, has been suspended a few times at Auburn and has played in just 15 games in two seasons. But he is expected to start for the Tigers this season.

• FS Demetrice Morley, the 21st-ranked player in the class, played at Tennessee as a freshman and a sophomore before flunking out of school. He spent the past year in junior college rebuilding his academics and is expected to start for the Vols this season.

Add to that the stories of Jerrell Powe and Callahan Bright, and it’s not exactly inspiring. Plus, there are a number of kids who ranked in Rivals top 30 who have yet to shine on the field, although there can be valid reasons for that (such as USC QB Mark Sanchez).

Quote Of The Day

“He had some good pointers,” Smart said about Saban’s advice on dealing with the quarterback battle. “But I’ll keep that between he and I. I’m always looking for good advice especially dealing with the quarterback situation.” — Dawgs247, 5/16/18